Inside The Thunder

Thunder Overwhelm Israel's Maccabi Ra'anana in Fourth Preseason Outing

The Thunder crushed the Maccabi Ra'anana on Sunday night behind a 23-point first-half from Luguentz Dort.

Dustin McLaughlin

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The Thunder continued their 2022-23 preseason campaign, running over the Israeli National League’s Maccabi Ra’anan to win by 47. This win marks their third victory in four games.

Maccabi Ra’anan opened up the first quarter strong, shooting the ball well, bothering Oklahoma City defensively, and moving the ball. But they shot themselves in the foot as they sent Thunder players to the free throw line 11 times.

Luguentz Dort was able to provide a steady hand for Oklahoma City early, scoring eight of the team’s first 12 points and finding his way to the free-throw line five times.

After trailing for most of the first quarter, the Thunder’s offense started catching on and the team was able to retake the lead 27-25 following Dort and Aleksej Pokusevski each making a pair of threes.

The Thunder were able to build on the lead by a couple of points to round out the first quarter on top 33-29.

Lindy Waters III and Jaylin Williams were able to start the second quarter off strong, hitting a pair of threes for the Thunder and quickly increasing the lead to 39-29.

But Ra’anan guard Jason Siggers kept the Israeli squad in the fight for a while behind his 13 consecutive points and at one point, shortened the Thunder’s lead to three. The Thunder really turned things up in the second quarter, pouncing on a ton of mistakes, winning loose balls, and turning them into points.

Oklahoma City's defense allowed just three points in the first four minutes of the second quarter.

As the defense turned into offense, Dort was able to sustain the team’s offensive efforts and build his scoring total to 23 points via three-pointers and strong slashing.  With the Thunder both tightening their defense and posting a 38-point second quarter, the Thunder built a 71-54 lead before heading to halftime.

Coming out of halftime, Ousmane Dieng got the Thunder off to a strong start, scoring five quick points after Dort had finished his debut.

Jalen Williams was then able to draw two shooting fouls, converting all four free throws and adding another four points. The Thunder’s spacing and ball movement seemed to be top-notch, even with Dort being finished for the night. Players were showing great effort moving without the ball and finding open teammates, a consistent theme throughout the night.

The Thunder’s offense hummed its way along to a massive 48-point quarter due to some hot 3-point shooting, ballooning the lead to 119-77. At this point, the game was all but over. More of the same would come in the final quarter of the Thunder’s fourth preseason game.

Ra’anan started off slow, failing to score much in the first few minutes while the Thunder’s youngsters were having their way with the defense, hitting threes and getting downhill at will.

Oklahoma City’s defense did a great job smothering Ra’anan’s offense, forcing poor jumpers and contested shots at the rim. The Thunder were able to hold the opposition to just

The Oklahoma City Thunder would maintain their sizeable lead to hand Maccabi Ra’anan a loss and win their fourth preseason game, 144-97.

Game Notes

The Thunder seemingly put on a ball movement clinic as they finished the night with 42 assists on 51 made field goals. They also did an excellent job taking care of the ball, turning the ball over just 15 times – a low number for such a young team.

The Thunder were also highly efficient shooting the ball tonight. They were able to convert 84% of their 25 free throw attempts and knock down almost 60% of all shots. Three-point shooting was the bright spot as they poured in 21 threes on 44 attempts.

Tonight's game marked Luguentz Dort's 2022-23 debut after sustaining a concussion during practice just prior to the start of preseason games. The strong 6-foot-4 guard started for the Thunder and proved to be a cut above the rest, scoring 23 points, including four threes, in the first half before sitting out the rest of the game.

After Thunder rookie Ousmane Dieng found himself inserted into the team’s starting lineup for the first time, he played extremely well, making several defensive plays and scoring 18 points on 12 shots, grabbing four boards, and finishing the game with four assists.

Pokusevski had arguably the best game of his career after recording 15 points, 10 assists, and five boards in just 26 minutes of action. The seven-footer also hit three of six threes before sitting.

Eugene Omoruyi, who is on a two-way contract with the Thunder, made a strong case for himself moving forward after dropping in 25 points, hitting four of six 3-pointers, and grabbing 12 rebounds.

Jason Siggers had a massive game tonight, pouring in an efficient 40 points, on 15 out of 26 shooting, including 5 threes and at one point had scored 17 straight points for a Maccabi Ra’anan that couldn’t seem to find offense elsewhere.

Several Thunder players did not play tonight after it was announced that Josh Giddey, Tre Mann, Kenrich Williams, Darius Bazley, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, and Mike Muscala would rest. The Thunder’s star point guard, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is still out rehabbing a knee injury suffered last month.

The Oklahoma City Thunder will play the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. CST for their fifth preseson game.

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Dustin McLaughlin
DUSTIN MCLAUGHLIN

Dustin has followed the Oklahoma City Thunder since their inception in 2008, and the NBA since the early 2000s. He's been scouting NBA prospects for 4 years and running.

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